Saturday, October 6, 2018

government sanitized news; "two sides to Brett"

3-13-2015 a Don Quixote,” gushed one pundit, and his non-radical style (“He fought but only by legal means, with no excesses,” noted federal senator Yevgeny Tarlo).

One would never know from these plaudits to the virtual Nemtsov that the real Nemtsov had been repeatedly arrested at protests and had been an ardent supporter of Ukraine’s Maidan revolution. It was much the same on the other major national channel, TV-1. On February 28, a special edition of the political show Time Will Tell began with a moment of silence to honor Nemtsov, at the suggestion of host Petr Tolstoy. Nemtsov was roundly praised as a man of courage and conviction, whether or not one agreed with his beliefs—beliefs for which,

Tolstoy was careful to note, “no one persecuted him.”

There was, of course, no mention of the time Nemtsov’s apartment was raided on the eve of a protest march, or the time he was jailed for 15 daysafter an arrest at another protest. Or the time his illegally recorded phone conversations were leaked to a pro-government “news” site. Or the many times he was physically harassed by Kremlin-nurtured “youth activists.”

On March 1, TV-1 offered its own sanitized version of the march in Nemtsov’s memory. Plenty of flowers and Russian flags were visible—but no placards or slogans, other than the giant banner that read, “Heroes don’t die” and “These bullets were aimed at all of us.” Of the three people interviewed for the brief segment, two emphasized that they were not Nemtsov supporters. One said he had not planned to go to the original protest rally but had joined the march because “people die and that’s regardless of Nemtsov or Ukraine.” Another curtly explained that he had come to “pay my respects to a murdered politician, even though, to be honest, he was no political idol of mine.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/nobody-in-russia-is-buying-putins-nemtsov-lie

-A Farsi text alerts a computer screen alerts an Internet user trying to log onto social networking site Facebook in Tehran that access to this site is not possible, May 25, 2009 photo.

7-31-2013 Iran, with a little help from China, is putting together its own closed version of the Internet to keep its citizens from viewing material it considers unsuitable. Experts say the project is struggling and unlikely to work.... One example of Chinese assistance came to light last year, according to Shahbaz, when it was learned that China’s ZTE company had signed a contract with Iran to provide more than $130 million in surveillance and interception equipment. He said a there was also a 2010 deal for China to sell Iran “deep packet inspection” technologies that could monitor Internet communications. All of this, Shahbaz said, is designed to enable Iran to set up its internal Internet services and crack down on access to regular Internet services. The internal network is also designed to prevent Iranians from surfing the Internet, even the internal one, anonymously. https://www.voanews.com/a/iran-plans-its-own-sanitized-internet-with-chinese-help/1713638.html

10-3-18 Prof./Dr. at Princeton Theologic Seminary School Kenneth G. Appold said he believes that “there were two sides to Brett.”Appold said that he was “one-hundred-per-cent certain” that he was told that Kavanaugh was the male student who exposed himself to Ramirez. ….

A classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Georgetown Preparatory School, who asked to remain anonymous because of the intensity of the partisan fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination, submitted a signed declaration to the F.B.I. after visiting the F.B.I. field office nearest his home, where he was told that the Bureau didn’t do “in-person interviews.” He said that he was hoping to hear something back, but hadn’t yet. In his statement, which his attorney also sent to several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, he described Kavanaugh as part of a clique of high-school athletes, most of whom were on the football team, who “routinely picked on” less physically fit or popular students. He said that he never witnessed Kavanaugh physically attacking another student, but he recalled him doing “nothing to stop the physical and verbal abuse.”Instead, he said, Kavanaugh “stood by and laughed at the victims.”https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/will-the-fbi-ignore-testimonies-from-kavanaughs-former-classmates

10-3-18 Avenatti is providing a statement from a woman who said she has known Ford, Kavanaugh, his friend Mark Judge, and his accuser Julie Swetnick for decades. In it she said she believes both Ford and Swetnick are honest and truthful. She says she has been to at least 20 parties that Kavanaugh and Judge also attended.

“I know many instances during these house parties where Brett and Mark would drink excessively and be overly aggressive and verbally abusive toward girls,” she said. “This conduct included inappropriate physical contact with girls of a sexual nature.” She said she saw Kavanaugh “spike the punch” at parties with “Quaaludes and/or grain alcohol.”

“I understood this was being done for the purpose of making girls more likely to engage in sexual acts and less likely to say ‘No,’” she said. “I am aware of other inappropriate conduct by Brett Kavanaugh but do not feel comfortable stating it at this time in this declaration.”

Avenatti said this woman is “prepared to meet with the FBI today and disclose multiple facts and witnesses.”

Dennis Ketterer (shown), terminated by Channel 7 last June just a week after he had won a regional Emmy Award as outstanding weather-caster, has sued the station for $12 million, charging discrimination under the D.C. Human Rights Act. He's also seeking reinstatement to his job, claiming breach of contract . . .

The suit, filed Oct. 13 in D.C. Superior Court against WJLA-TV (Channel 7), a division of Allbritton Communications Co., asks $10 million for mental anguish, pain and suffering, emotional distress and humiliation, and an additional $2 million in punitive damages . . .

And Ketterer, who has been studying to obtain a license to sell financial securities since leaving WJLA, said his attorney, Richard D. Heideman, had advised him not to comment . . .

According to the suit, Ketterer, who joined the station as a part-time weather reporter in October 1992, had sought counseling for depression on several occasions following the death of his wife in January 1986 and the death of his father this past January . . .

On or about Feb. 15 of this year, the suit claims, Ketterer was diagnosed by a psychiatrist as suffering from a manic-depressive illness known as bipolar II disorder, for which treatment with lithium was prescribed . . .Ketterer that same day notified Wordlaw of his "treatable" illness. The news director's "demeanor," according to the suit, "immediately changed from one of caring concern to a reaction of repugnance," and the notification caused a "definite and noticeable change" in Wordlaw's treatment and attitude toward Ketterer . . .Nevertheless, Ketterer continued as lead meteorologist and weather-caster for the station . . .

A month later, in response to an ongoing request that employees submit ideas and proposals for news stories and series to be aired by the station, Ketterer sent a memo to Wordlaw through the WJLA computer with three story ideas, including one for a three-part series on manic-depressive illness. Ketterer reiterated in the memo, which is attached to the suit, that he had been diagnosed with the illness. In the memo, Ketterer makes no mention of sharing his personal experience with viewers. . .He also proposed a series on UFOs and a weekly segment on gardening

On March 24, two days after Ketterer had sent the e-mail memo, Wordlaw read it and, according to the suit, ordered him to attend a noon meeting the next day, at which time he was told his employment was terminated, effective June 30 . . .

In late June, he was replaced on the air by Mark Pfister. At the time, the station insisted that Ketterer was in the midst of contract negotiations that probably would mean a role in a revised weekend format due to be introduced Aug. 19 . Ketterer was in the second year of a three-year contract that gave WJLA the option to renew on a yearly basis by June 30 . . .